Laura Hirtzel Powell

Laura Hirtzel Powell (1828–1901) was a Welsh diarist and aunt of the antiquary George Eyre Evans. Her diaries provide the most comprehensive account of life in nineteenth-century Carmarthen.

Early life Laura Hirtzel Powell was born in 1828,

Diarist Powell kept a daily diary for 60 years. The diaries give an insight into the life of a nineteenth-century educated, unmarried middle-class woman and provide a comprehensive account of a family guided by religious and moral values.

Powell was close friends with the artist Sarah Doidge, who requested to be buried next to her. She was buried in Alltyblaca Chapel Yard, and her brother-in-law, David Lewis Evans, was buried beside her upon his death the following year.

An alphabet cross stitch sampler believed to have been created by Laura Hirtzel Powell c. 1846 or c. 1848 was donated to Carmarthenshire Museum by George Eyre Evans.